Chapter Four – Explorations
It took a year for Sonic to fully heal. Shadow was surprised, but it was the fact that he completely regrowing eyeballs from scratch, was what took the time. Layer by layer, cell by cell, the Healing Tank did it's job. Shadow had programmed it to make working eyeballs, that could move and show expressions and emotions. But they weren't functional. Sonic optical nerve was too badly damaged and building a working pupil, lenses and retina within the eyes were just too complicated. Shadow didn't process the genetic knowledge for that. His education in the field was very limited compared to what Gerald Robotnikknew, but it was still impressive that Shadow could do it at all. He only learned from what the log books and diaries had said of his own creation, that were left behind.
Finally the Healing Tank was finished, and now time to move Sonic to somewhere more comfortable. He pulled the Blue Blur from the tank, and heaved under the strain. Wow, Sonic had grown. He was skin and bone when Shadow first put him in the tank, now the Blue Blur had quadrupled his weight, with visible muscles everywhere, on his arms, legs and torso. A solid year of the correct diet and no Super-Speed to constantly burn off the calories, and yeah, he looked good, though Shadow suspected he was going to struggle to maintain that physique.
Regardless, Shadow was pleased, and soon had him back on the medical table in the sick bay again. One last final check, before giving him the antidote to the sedative and letting him sleep it off. He smirked. The Blue Blur looked so much better. The severe burns on his arms, chest and muzzle had all gone, except for a few minor lines of scaring. Unfortunately, the Healing Tank wasn't perfect. Sometimes some deep scar tissue couldn't be healed, but it could do some miracles. Now for the eyes. The scaring around them, again, was minimal, as new fur growth would cover it. His eyelids gentle covered the eyes, as they bulged beneath them, like they were supposed to. The eyelids themselves looked fine, and then finally, he lifted them to reveal the brand new eyeballs beneath.
Shadow gasped. Under the circumstances, they looked perfect. Both of them. Sonic had no iris's or pupils but pale grey discs where the eyes should be. It had worked, and Shadow was relieved. Sonic was still blind, but as least now he could function and with that incredible Super-Hearing of his, Shadow was deeply interested in finding out how. But the Ultimate Lifeform had to contain himself, as he gave Sonic the antidote to the sedative, and placed him in a warm bed for the night. It would all start in the morning.
Sonic finally awoke at dawn, feeling incredibly groggy indeed. Everything felt very numb, but at least he wasn't in pain anymore. His head was spinning. He blinked, rubbing his eyes. He stared.
Wait? What?
Very quickly realisingthat he was still in total darkness, he quickly felt his head, and all around his eyes. They felt amazing. He moved them up, down, left and right. Back to normal, exactly how they should be. He almost cried, until he realisedhe could have so easily have died. Being blind wasn't actually that bad, at least he could function. Somehow? Suddenly, one by one, his other four super-enhanced senses kicked in as his surroundings exploded into life all around. The Sonar, now very much here to stay.
Sonic didn't immediately understand what it was, but was very grateful for it, but was now very confused as to where he was. He memories of the hospital were very hazy, but he did remember someone rescuing him.
But who?
He nervously took the covers off himself, and swung his feet to hit to the floor, with a 'clink'. He deeply frowned. What was that? Immediately his instincts kicked him, and he bent down and sniffed the floor. Ok, weird smell. Then he licked it, and promptly spat, but he knew the taste. Metal. He put his hand back to the bed, ran along it, to the wall, and licked that too. Sonic blinked in shock. Again, metal. He suspected the ceiling too. Then he silently frowned, deeply thinking. Metal floors, walls and ceilings, where could that be? He knew it, that was why his instincts were telling him he wasn't in danger. He just had to remember.
Brand new eyes, metals rooms, and then suddenly, he heard it. That slow, steady, extremely calm, thump, thump, of a heartbeat, which had been his lifesaver back at the hospital. Then it finally made sense, as his scent came into view. Sonic heaved, all of a sudden, struggling with the high emotions.
"Shadow!" He gasped, not quite believing he was still here. The Ultimate Lifeform had indeed been watching him, very impressed, from the other end of the room, ever since he first stirred. But before Shadow could stop him, Sonic, extremely quickly, got to his feet, and following the scent trail, he made a beeline straight for him, and just threw his arms around him. He hugged him with everything he had. But Shadow, not enjoying it at all, nearly threw him off, except for two words that changed everything. Sonic sniffed.
"Thank you." He stammered, as he proceed to cry his heart out on his shoulder. The Ultimate Lifeform had healed him, and at that very moment, it meant the world. He couldn't save his sight. But under the circumstances, not that surprising, but it was incredible what he had managed to achieve. Shadow just stopped and stared. Nobody has ever thanked him for anything before, especially not this sincerely. Sonic was still blind but it seemed the Blue Blur just didn't care. The fact that Shadow was still here, was enough. He smirked, extremely taken aback. He heaved.
"Your welcome." He hissed, for want of nothing better to say. Shadow then removed Sonic from him. The Blue Blur was still frightened, but the worst of the fear was passing. Still in tears, he sniffed.
"I'm sorry." He whimpered. "For everything." He gulped. But Shadow just growled and rounded on the Blur Blur.
"No, none of that. What happened wasn't entirely your fault. You were very ill, and nobody cared, including me. Maybe I am the one who should be sorry." He admitted, somewhat guilty. "But I know why, as I had to gain access to your medical records in order to heal you." He hissed. Sonic when white, but Shadow just heaved. "Sterility is not a death sentence, and your not the only one either." He admitted. "Gerald wanted the Ultimate Lifeform, not an army. You didn't have the confidence to tell that stupid girl, Amy, as she wouldn't take no for an answer." He smirked, but on hearing Amy's name, Sonic was so frightened that he grabbed his ears and curled up on the floor exactly where he stood, the quills on his head and back showing, to Shadow's utter surprise, and horror. A Hedgehog's final, desperate defense. Even now, he was still very scared. It was indeed her he was afraid of. But Shadow just hissed in anger. He knelt down and growled. "You have my word, she's not having you. If she tries, I'll kill her." He leered, extremely coldly. Suddenly, Sonic stopped shaking and poked his nose and head out of his ball. He could smell Shadow, next to him, and pointed his head towards his heartbeat, inadvertently looking at his chest fur. Shadow smirked, that was amusing, but in time, it would improve. Sonic sighed, as Shadow's promise was unmoving. With no choice, he had to believe him, and finally, he nodded.
Shadow approved, but he had a lot of work ahead of him. Cracking that severe anxiety was going to be difficult. Sonic did speak but barely, and he had heard from Tails that mutism was a possibility with him. Not ideal, but with the whole of the Ark at their disposal, and all the time in the world, to finish the job. Shadow had fixed Sonic physically, now time for some mental healing.
The silence of the Ark, helped Sonic greatly, but the Blue Blur became very calm. The complete opposite of how he used to be. But he was keen to explore, to find his feet again, as he walked around the entire space station, feeling his way round. But he always found Shadow. No matter where he went on the Ark, Sonic always found him. Soon it became a game of cat and mouse as Sonic could hear the one thing Shadow couldn't hide, his heartbeat. Soon, Shadow was keen to find out just how far Sonic's hearing could actually go, and found out that Sonic could hear him speak nothing more then a cold whisper from the other end of the Ark.
He really did have Super-Hearing, but it needed training. Shadow offered and immediately Sonic took him up on it. He was still so regretful and upset by it all. He'd been so stupid. Had taken to many things for granted and was determined to never do it again. He didn't talk much. His hearing was now so sensitive that his own voice was actually now quite uncomfortable, so the Blue Blur didn't bother. Sonic's friends didn't contact them. In finding both Sonic and Shadow gone from the hospital, they had believed that Shadow had killed him and then proceeded to leave him be on the Ark.
Shadow didn't deny it, despite it not being the truth. As a student, Shadow found Sonic surprising cooperative, and a very fast learner. During this time, the two formed a strong bond, a working relationship so close that they were perfectly in sync. True friends. Shadow was surprised. There was much more to the Blue Blur that he'd given him credit, he just needed to get to know the guy, but it still took two years. Soon, they were Super-Speed running all around the Ark, Sonic outdoing him, as always, but this time, Shadow was happy to let him. But Sonic wasn't happy, as he finally planned to return to the planet. His friends had abandoned him, and the only person who didn't, was the one sent to kill him. He was incredibly grateful to Shadow and didn't blame him at all for wanting to take him out, he was only doing his job.
Suddenly, one day, Shadow found Sonic silently staring down at the planet from the from room on the Ark with the incredible panoramic view of Mobius. The Blue Blur could no longer see the amazing sight, but he still had his pale grey discs fixed on the planet, and his ears pricked on it, the deepest frown ever in his face. Shadow himself also frowned. Sonic had come a long way, his confidence growing hugely, but the anxiety was always going to be there. He let Sonic live simply because he was deeply fascinated at his Super-Hearing. The Sonar and it's incredible ability. Shadow had never seen or studied anything like it, as Sonic had let him. It was part of the deal of the Blue Blur staying on the Ark. But then Shadow's jaw dropped, as he then stared at Sonic and then at the planet and back again. He gasped.
'What? But that's not possible', He stammered in his thoughts. Sound can't travel through the vacuum of space, and yet, was he seeing the impossible here? He walked up to and stood next to Sonic, the Blue Blur acknowledging his arrival. He was panting with utter disbelieve as the potential possibilities here. He gulped.
"Can you hear the planet?" He spoke, barely more then a whisper. An audio planet scan? Sonic turned to him, and nodded, deeply confused himself. Shadow quickly realised, there was no point asking Sonic how? The look on his face clearly showed he had absolutely no idea. So Shadow grabbed his shoulder, indicting through touch that he wanted to examine Sonic's ears. The Blue Blur nodded staying both silent and still, as Shadow worked around him. He grabbed several pieces of equipments including a scanner, to look deep into Sonic's ears to try and find an answer as to how it was possible.
Sonic squealed in pain. It wasn't comfortable, but endured it and soon Shadow was done, with no further answers then before. Sonic could definitely hear the planet, but the how was still a mystery. He heaved. Time to now work with what he had, when meant finding out what exactly could be heard. Which now meant getting Sonic talking.
Oh goody.
Shadow growled. There were times he could have happily have strangled the Blue Blur, over the years, mainly because of his mouth. But now he'd swung from one extreme to the complete and utter other, and it frustrated Shadow beyond believe. Before the incident, he couldn't get the Blue Blur to shut up, and now he desperately struggled to get him to talk, at all. The thumb sucking seriously not helping, as he'd just silently hide behind it and refuse to come out. Shadow deeply sighed, calming his frustration. He was well aware that any high emotions would set off Sonic's own anxiety, causing him to flee and just disappear on the Ark for days on end, worrying Shadow the death, as he was always unable to find him.
Shadow looked at him. Sonic was stood opposite him, thumb in mouth, still somewhat shaken from the examination, but was quickly settling. Shadow smirked and waited, watching him closely. They were in no rush, and better for Sonic to get his confidence back, but trying to talk to him again. He'd always needed huge patients with Sonic. Before he was enduring the huge ego and the constant talking, now it was silent contemplation and intense shyness. Shadow heaved. In many ways, this was far worse. Before he could just fight back, but now, his temper would just frighten Sonic away, to never been seen again.
Plus the excruciating silence. Sonic wasn't quite mute, but it was extremely close. He did talk, just. Shadow had always been used to knowing exactly what was going on with Sonic, his constant talking telling everyone, but nowadays, nothing. Reading Sonic was intensely difficult, especially behind that thumb, and quite often the only way Shadow knew he'd done something wrong was when he'd suddenly be greeted with tears, to utter confusion. The last two years, since he'd awoken from the Healing Tank, had been extremely tough, but with all the training, the Blue Blur had come a long way, and within ten minutes, he'd successfully settled his nerves and the thumb was beginning to loosen from his mouth. Shadow nodded approvingly. Sonic was still panting hard, but was now ready to be talked to. Shadow's smirk broadened, turning to the planet through the window.
"What can you hear?" He whispered. Sonic stared at Shadow and then back at the planet, pointing his ears directly at it. He frowned at it, concentrating hard, until finally, dropping the thumb.
"Noise." He hissed, his voice extremely cracked. "A lot of noise. I'm struggling to pinpoint anything." He admitted, to Shadow's utter delight. This was the first time Sonic had spoken for nearly a year. But the Ultimate Lifeform quickly calmed his emotions and got back to the task in hand. He frowned again. Sonic desperately needed his guidance, that was clear on his face, but how best to help him. Suddenly, he had an idea, and temporarily disappeared to Sonic's confusion and was back with a Chaos Emerald, which made the Blue Blur jump, as he immediately sensed it, and panic slightly. Shadow grabbed him and successfully calmed him, giving him the Chaos Emerald.
Sonic frowned at it. He felt, sniffed and licked it all over, a deep look of recognition on his face. Shadow smirked.
"You remember it?" He sniggered. Sonic nodded, sucking his thumb again, giving it back to Shadow. The Ultimate Lifeform had noticed that his memories from before the incident were still extremely hazy. The intense shock of what happened the main cause but they were slowly coming back. Shadow smirked.
"I can use it to listen through your ears." He hissed, but Sonic gasped, horrified, but Shadow immediately reassured him. "Hey, it's alright. I'm done it before with you. But you don't remember. Trust me, I can guide you." He sniggered. Sonic nodded, and grabbing his hand, Shadow activated the Chaos Emerald, and suddenly the Ark exploded with sound. To the Blue Blur, the space colony wasn't actually quiet at all. He could hear every creak and movement of the Ark. The ventilation system, the generators, engine core, even the computer console, and then finally, Shadow heard his own distinctive heartbeat. It overwhelmed his brain, as usual, but soon, panting hard, he managed to get his head around it all, and finally concentrated on at extremely muffled but huge mass of noise that was definitely coming from the planet.
Shadow heaved, in utter astonishment. That was incredible but how? Still with no idea, he heaved, smirking. Time to take advantage of what he had. He deeply concentrated on the mass of noise. It was extremely quiet. Shadow frowned.
"Can you increase the volume?" He asked, turning to Sonic. The Blue Blur looked shocked and then, looking back at the planet, he concentrated extremely hard, gritting his teeth. Suddenly, the mass of quiet noise exploded as a enormous loud wall of sound. Both Hedgehogs squealed in pain, as Sonic outright panicked. But Shadow quickly took control of the situation. The wall of sound was made up of every noise a planet had to offer, but the main one that could be heard were voices. So Shadow had to get Sonic to concentrate on just one. One they both knew extremely well.
Eggman.
But try as they might, they failed to find him through the huge noise. They managed to single out voices over other sounds such as cities and the environment. Shadow heaved, frustrated but he let the Blue Blur go and get some sleep. The ability to hear the planet from the Ark, had huge potential, but it definitely needed training. Planet scanning was incredibly difficult. It was obvious that Sonic wanted to return home, but despite the improvements, Shadow had to admit, he still wasn't ready.
His nerves were still too frayed and he frightened far to easily. His incredible Super-Hearing, and that noisy planet, he'd just be overwhelmed. He needed to introduced back, slowly and gently, and only then could he take the planet by storm. But that took far longer then Shadow had anticipated.
Another two years.
The Ultimate Lifeform heaved. Five years, Sonic had been on the Ark. A year in the Healing Tank, and four years of mental training and conditioning, and yes, Shadow had conditioned him, especially in the last year. He didn't have a choice. The intense conditioning he'd received from Gerald at his first creation, was what gave Shadow his super strong will and mental strength. So he'd transferred some of that to Sonic, through intense training and some genetic engineering, giving the Blue Blur the means of dealing with the intense bombardment of sound, especially coming from the planet, which he was desperately struggling with. But unfortunately, it left he rather cold.
Shadow growled, not happy at all. It was Sonic's permanent warmth balanced out his ice, cold darkness, and now with it somewhat gone, he was left rather alone and extremely torn. But he'd had to do this to Sonic. The Blue Blur might be killed on sight, by Eggman, or captured by the Mobian Authorities as a traitor, if he returned to the planet. But truthfully, Shadow had no idea what would happen especially if Sonic hadn't got full control of his hearing. He had been a soldier before the incident, the Hero of Mobius, and Shadow had no choice but to turn him back into the highly-trained soldier again. Sonic had agreed to all of it. Even he understood what was at stake, if he went down to the planet, unprepared. It was his only chance of survival, even though he wasn't happy about it either.
The upside, however, was that it successfully got the Blue Blur properly talking again, the thumb sucking nearly gone, as the Ark rang with his voice for the first time in nearly five years. Shadow sniggered, working at the space colony's computer console, as he heard Sonic singing at the top of his voice from the other end of the Ark. It was horrendously out of tune, and severely lacked warmth and emotion, but as Shadow smirked, yes, he could work on that. Maybe he could actually get Sonic to back to exactly how he was, before the incident.
Suddenly, Shadow's eye's widened, as an somewhat mischievous brainwave hit and hard, one that he knew Sonic would immediately agree to, as a means of getting back at his friends for abandoning him. He eyes glowed a deep red, as his smirk broadened.
He had an idea.
It was pure genius, but Sonic wasn't keen on heading back to the planet alone. It wasn't a case that he was clingy to Shadow, it was a case that the Ultimate Lifeform was now the only person left that Sonic could truly trust. The abandonment still severely upsetting him. Granted. He had been very stupid. He had made a mistake. A big one, but he'd always believed that he friends were going to be by his side no matter what. Oh, how wrong he was. But Sonic heaved, thinking deeply.
Shadow. A guide, a teacher like no other, and he'd surprised Sonic. He doubted Shadow truly knew just how incredibly grateful he was to the Ultimate Lifeform for this second chance, which was why he'd did whatever Shadow wanted of him. He saved his life, trained him to learn to live without his sight, grown him back to being the Hero of Mobius again. He had his life back, a life, Sonic felt he didn't deserve. He wondered why, for the longest time. Why, his number one rival, would help him in such a way?
But when Sonic realisedjust how deeply fascinated Shadow was with his Super-Hearing, his Sonar, he understood. He knew that he would want to train him to use it for his own purposes. Sonic smirked. Sure, why not. The Blue Blur had always been fascinated himself with what Shadow did at G.U.N. and with the professional killing. Now was his chance to find out. He did object at first, but when he realisedthat Shadow was taking out genuine bad guys, such as warlords, mafia bosses, and drug dealers, where killing them was the only way, Sonic decided to drop it. In the greater scheme of things, it was probably for the better. He talked to Shadow at length about it, when he finally found his voice, and it was decided not to stop Shadow from doing his job, so long as he didn't expect Sonic to do the same. The Blue Blur was still no killer, even now.
He blinked his eyes, still unable to believe that Shadow had actually regrown them. They felt so normal, especially after four years, since waking up from the Healing Tank. Sonic frowned, staring into the darkness ahead of him, now finding it surprising peaceful. He struggled to remember those early days, and as to the hospital, there was nothing. Shadow had told him that he'd be declared dead on the planet. Sonic growled. He wasn't surprised, considering Shadow had been sent to kill him. He could hear Shadow working at his computer console on the Ark, the thump, thump, of his heartbeat as cool and calm as ever. It never changed.
He heaved. His ears. They had saved his life, catching the fascination of the Black Hedgehog sent to murder him. Sonic had a love-hate relationship with his Super-Hearing. He now heavily relied on them. They were his eyes, giving him Sonar to see via sonic vibrations. The vibrations then showing as pale blue images in the darkness. The Sonar. In fact all of his senses worked together, to create the images. His other four remaining senses were enhanced beyond normal ability, and give him a 'radar sense'. He could 'see' smells and scents, which should as pale blue trails in the darkness. It would explode with highly detailed imagery, borderline better then his originally eyesight. But there was a definite line, between manageable and overwhelming. Where all of the bombardment just got too much.
That was why Sonic agreed to Shadow's genetic engineering conditioning. He significantly improved the management of all his super senses, and allowed him to cope much better. But unfortunately, he lost some of his ability to feel. He growled, not happy, but it also helped him understand Shadow much better. Why he was so emotionless, sometimes? With the conditioning, the emotions physically weren't there anymore to be felt. Sonic heaved. It was a heavily price tag, but he didn't regret it for a moment, as he desperately clung onto that genetic engineering with everything he had. Shadow had warned him about this, but thankfully the emotion loss for Sonic was a minimum, but he still had to relearn all over again, how to feel some emotions, mainly the complex ones. Such as contentment, bewilderment, awe, disgust, embarrassment, envy, gratitude, jealousy, pride, remorse, shame, worry, and love. His fear and anxiety still remained, and they could potentiallyexplode but the conditioning had numbed them and hard, mainly at Sonic's own request. Shadow couldn't remove them, and Sonic didn't want him too. They made him who he was, but they were still there, but they had been significantlyreduced. There was no way he could face Amy again, which he knew he'd have to, without his anxiety heavily dumbed down. He'd just outright panic otherwise. Now he felt prepared.
He still had his happiness and sadness, and was slowly getting back his child-like persona, through the conditioning, though it felt heavily faked, nowadays. It was. He grown up, hugely, especially in the last five years, he was now past it. It wasn't just the conditioning that had changed him. He'd lost his sight, and now he'd had finally matured. He wasn't a kid anymore. Took him until his twenty-fifth birthday to work that out. Shadow had thrown a bit of bash for him, in for form a cupcake with a singular candle in it and a party blower in his mouth, with a look of utter contentment on his face.
Sonic just laughed, as Shadow shrugged, as he hugged the Ultimate Lifeform again. This time the Black Hedgehog let him. It meant so much, thanking him again, and Sonic was now desperately wondering what Shadow had planned for the planet. The Ultimate Lifeform smirked. Tails was an expert inventor, that was undeniable, but Shadow, himself, wasn't bad at electronics either. But for him, it was communications. He could bug or debug (place or find listening devices) on anyone or anything, and regularly did. Sonic could now hear him, from almost anywhere but Shadow couldn't do the reverse. His hearing just wasn't as good, and Sonic was keen on a direct communications link, when he returned to the planet. He still wanted Shadow's guidance.
He blinked, deeply honoured, though he now believed the Blue Blur no longer needed it. But he got the impression that it was more for comradery then anything. So, after years of cooperation from Sonic, he he designed and created a small microchip communicator, to be place under the skin, just behind the ear, near the eardrum. With it, all someone had to do, was speak and they would be instantly heard by the other person. With an heavily encrypted signal, and a huge range, it was perfect for what Sonic was wanting. Shadow had even place motion sensors in them, so they could detect when Sonic was nodding. Something he regularly did. But placing it on the Blue Blur with his Super-Hearing was going to be incredibly delicate and Shadow decided to sedate him. Sonic reluctantlyagreeing. It was what he wanted, but he didn't like being temporarily put to sleep.
It took Shadow several hours in the medical bay, to delicately place the communicator and calibrate it, so it wouldn't, one, be interfered with, by anything, and two, overwhelm the Blue Blur. After holding his nerve, finally, he was successful, and as he let Sonic to sleep off the antidote, he then proceeded to give himself his own. It was bizarre. He could barely feel it next to his eardrum, and once he fully calibrated it, he could hear Sonic breathing as he slept.
As part of Sonic's training, they had Chaos Controlled to various secluded parts of the planet, so they wouldn't be seen, to slowly get Sonic used to both the noise, and for him to find to bearings again. It took more then a year of going back and forth, until finally, for Sonic, it clicked, as the map he remembered of the planet, from setting foot on every inch of it, finally lined up with what he was seeing on his Sonar. Now he could navigate, and the noise bombardment, easily manageable.
With another invention of Shadow's, finally Sonic was ready to go.
Time to take on the planet.